C'^-.j:- '' 



LETTER 



PROM 



THOMAS G. ALLEN <<; 



TO 



COL. THOMAS B. FLORENCE, 



EEPEESENTATIVE IN THE XXXIVTH CONGEESS,] 




/ 



FROM THE 



FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



PHILADELPHIA : 



1856. 



LETTER. 



Philadelphia, Aug. 15, 1856. 
Deae Colonel : 

Being a Democrat, and a constituent, I could not be otherwise than interested in a re- 
cent letter of yours addressed to your constituents " in the Third ward, at the corner of 
Front and Catharine streets, and also, in the Second ward, at Pascoe's, corner of Fifth 
and Carpenter streets." But, as I do not reside in either of the exact localities desig- 
nated, I should not have inferred that your letter was intended to reach me, were it not 
for the fact of its having been widely published in several advertised editions, through 
the medium of the newspaper press. The publicity given to it is, I think, sufficient 
evidence that it was intended for " all whom it may concern." And now, Colonel, as it 
does concern me, in common with the great majority of yonr constituents, I propose to 
review it, in connection with your past political course, and so'me other topics which as 
closely concern the citizens you were elected to represent. As I know you to be a plain 
man, I take the liberty to address you in a plain, familiar way. 

I agree with you in the patriotic sentiment you have expressed, that " There 
should be at this important crisis in the political history of our country, no lack of 
vigilance, or hesitation to respond to calls made, by any Democrat, who can in the 
slightest degree aid by personal effort, or by sounding the alarm in words of warning, 
which may be the means of arresting and rendering ineffectual the daring efforts of mis- 
guided men, who are now banded together in a merely sectional organization to assist a 
candidate to the Presidential chair, whose success there is much reason to fear would be 
the ' death knell of the Union.' " I agree, too, with that other sentiment you have so 
fitly expressed, that " it is the duty of all friends of the Constitution who would per- 
petuate the blood-bought blessings we enjoy, all who would look upon this Union as the 
' star of hope ' to the oppressed of the world, all who anxiously anticipate that happy 
period when the people, God'a nobility, shall live under a common republican form of 
Government, with a common destiny, to earnestly and thoroughly unite, and thus secure 
the inestimable blessing to be accomplished thereby — by the promotion of the happiness 
of all mankind." I agree with you, " this ' consummation so devoutly to be wished,' 
can never be accomplished unless these sectional agitators who, by their anti-republican 
conduct, convulse the Republic from ' its centre to its circumference,' and who by their 
maniac ravings and little less than insane heresies and clamor, are driven back in the 
approaching Presidential campaign." 

I tell you plainly, Colonel — and I say it without design to flatter — that so much of 
your letter as I have quoted, impressed me with a conviction that, notwithstanding 
your departure, heretofore, from the landmarks and principles which governed our 



Democratic forefathers, you had resolved, aud had so expressed yourself in language 
becoming a Democrat, that you would no longer be found in the company, or voting to 
sustain, those' who would, by a cowardly blow of the bludgeon, strike down statesmen 
whose sentiments are in perfect harmony with those once uttered by Washington, by 
Jefferson, by Madison, by Monroe, by Jackson, by Clay, and by thousands of others, 
whose memory you have invoked. I read with delight your declaration that " these 
great men lived and died examples worthy to be followed, cither in precept or jiraetice, 
by every statesman who, luving his country, would defend it from traitors within or 
aggresjiors without;" and I said to myself Surely the Colonel is now earnestly disposed 
to atone fir the past by a determined course of patriotism in the future. I rejoiced that 
the patriotic citizens "in the Third ward, at the corner of Front and Catharine streets, 
and also in the Second ward, at Pascoe's, corner of Fifth and Carpenter streets," could 
henceforth claim a representative in Congress whose course would not tarnish the fair 
fame of the city which gave him birth. For the moment, I felt I could forget his many 
votes against Freedom. I felt that he might be sincere. I felt that I might say to my 
friends, A man who will follow such guides is safe to be intrusted with the interests 
which most concern a free people. He will not vote against free labor : he will not vote 
to degrade free men. 

These, Colonel, were my reflections and conclusions, until I came to that part of your 
letter wherein, in your allusion to President Pierce, you say : " After the gallant pilot 
who now guides the helm retires to his mountain home, in the granite hills of his native 
State, with the consciousness of having performed his duty, in upholding the truthful 
doctrines of the Constitution, and the principles of the Democratic party, we have assu- 
rance duubly sure that James Buchanan, the acknowledged statesman, the profound ju- 
rist, the man for the times, safe, conservative, and constitutional, with no blemish upon 
his character, having always lived a blameless life, and always for the country, the favo- 
rite sou of the 'Old Keystone' will take upon himself the duties the people intend he 
shall perform, and they will entrust him with as President of the thirty-one States of 
our Union. Then peace and quiet, and order and happiness, will again reign within 
our borders, and every one may ' sit under his own vine and fig tree with none to molest 
him or make him afraid.' " 

I can scarcely describe to yoxi what my feelings were when I read what is 
above quoted. I was at a loss to determine whether you were insane when it was written, 
or whether you were "of sound mind and memory," and simply labored under the belief 
that your constituents "in the Third ward, at the corner of Front and Catharine streets, 
and, aUn, in the Second ward, at Pascoe's, corner of Fifth and Carpenter street.s, and 
elsewhere, were all fools. After a little cogitation, and the reading of the concludinjr 
paragraph of your letter, wherein you express your " gratitude for the elevated honors 
conferred " upon you, as well as for the "generous confidence" so long reposed in yon 
by your " patriotic constituents," which you gently hint "they may be pleased to con- 
tinuo" by retaining you in "their service," I came to the conclusion that you are not 
m'lil, but tliat yciu rc'illy have nyiucrom coiifvlcnrr \\\ the gnllibility of your constituents, 
and a sincere conviction that you may «/te them as you please. 

Now, Colonel, lot mc tell you this will not do. Though thoy may have been deceived 
several times before, the independent voters of the I'irst Congressional District are not 



13 

shall be brought to favor the doctrine that Congress has no right to interfere with 
slavery in the Territories, even when it is established and sustained by "laws" enacted 
by invading ruffians, whose actions disgrace the country which gave them birth? Does 
it not emphatically endorse every outrage in Kansas, swid place that fair Territory 
entirely under the control of slaveholders, subject to the blight of slavery, by declaring 
it to be "treason" to resist those monstrous 'Maws ?" Colonel, you cannot deny but 
that it does. But, if you should have a doubt, you will be satisfied by the testimony 
of one Stephen Arnold Douglas, the great high priest who concocted this infamy into 
which you and others have been baptized. 

Read from his speech, printed in the Washington Union of June 10, 1856, in which 
he said : 'TAe Platform" (alluding to the Cincinuati Platform) " is equally explicit in 
reference to the disturbances in the Territory of Kansas. It declares that treason is to 
he punished, and resistance to the laivs is to be put doion." 

And now read what James Buchanan said after his nomination, in reply to 
a speech made by the President of the Keystone Club, whose members called on him 
on their return from Cincinnati : 

" G-entlemen," said Mr. Buchanan, "two weeks since I should have made you a 
longer speech, but now I have been placed upon a platform of which I cau most 
heartily approve, and that can speak for me. Being the representative of the great 
Democratic party, and not simply James Buchanan, I must square my conduct 
according to the platform of that party, and insert no new plank, nor take one from it. 
That platform is sufficiently broad and national for the whole Democratic party." 

Colonel, do you doubt the sincerity of James Buchanan when he says, "/ have been 
placed upon a platform of which I most heartily approve, and that can speak for me;" 
and, figain, when he says, '^ Being the representative of the great Democratic ptarty, and 
NOT SIMPLY James Buchanan, I must square myself according to the platform of that 
party?" If you do, yovi had better not. A. man "who has always lived a blameless 
life" may, I think, be relied on as a man who speaks the truth. Besides his promise 
is fully relied on by that same Stephen Arnold Douglas, as is manifest by what he said 
in a speech to which I have already referred. 

Said he, "I rejoice that the Convention, by a unanimous vote, has approved of the 
creed that law must and shall prevail. I rejoice that we have a standard-bearer with 
so much wisdom and nerve as to enforce a firm and undivided execution of those laws" 
referring to the " laws " of Kansas. 

Colonel, have I not presented evidence sufficient to satisfy any candid man why he 
should not " confer his generous confidence " either upon you, James Buchanan, or any 
other man who has committed himself to the sectionalism of the Cincinati Platform ? 
Colonel, do you believe a majority of your constituents are so ignorant of history, so lost 
to common sense and common honesty, as to assert that the Demorcracy professed by 
Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, at the present time, is the Democracy professed 
by Thomas Jefferson, carried out by others, and under which our country has grown and 
prospered for so many years ? If you believe it, permit me to assure you, you will find 
yourself mistaken. 

We have, as you say, now arrived " at an important crisis in the political history of 
our country." On every hand we are met by threats of disunion, unless Slavery — the 



14 

tiie to civilization and freedom — shall receive the fostering care of a government which 
was instituted " to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common 
defence, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves 
and our posterity." 

How saddining it is, Colonel, to see men who have been heretofore conspicuous in 
the work of promoting Freedom, who have manfully stood up and advocated the interest 
of the free laboring men, now suddenly turned and as earnestly engaged defending a 
system, and "laws," which must eventually, if continued, crush out and tie up the 
energy of those who are now laboring for their own and for their country's prosperity. 
Contra5t the present policy of i^rofcsscd Democrats, as it is herein set forth, with the 
policy of the Democratic party, as pursued in almost every free State, in years gone by. 
Read this sentiment as a sample of the views of the Democracy of New Hampshire, 
(President Pierce's native State) which may be taken as an expression of opinion con- 
curred in, at that time, by nine-tenths of the professed Democrats throughout the entire 
North. 

I quote from the New Hampshire Patriot, of the date of December 28th, 1848 ; the 
editor of which earnestly advocated the election of Franklin Pierce, who rewardod him, 
for the service with the present of a gold-headed cane. A hickory one, I presume it 
was, for gutta percha canes were not then in use. Here is the extract : 

•' The Southern people have no right — natural, moral or political — to enforce slave- 
ry upon the new Territories. They have no more right to go there and hold slaves, 
than they have to do so in New Hampshire. The slave holders have no more 

RIGHT TO PLANT SLAVERY UPON FREE TERRITORY, THAN WE HAVE TO ABOLISH 

SL-WERY IN South Carolina." 

With the above, read the following resolution passed unanimously at the Democratic 
State Convention of New Hampshire, as " the deliberate and mature convictions 
of the Democracy of that State," in October 1847 : 

" Resolved, That we declare it our solemn conviction, as the Democratic party 
have heretofore done, that neither SLAVERY nor involuntary servitude should here- 
after exist in any territory which may be acquired by or annexed to the United States j 
and that we approve of the votes of our delegation in Congress in favor of the Wilmot 
Provi-so." 

Read this, too, which was UNANIMOUSLY passed by the New Hampshire Legislature, 
in 1845: 

''Resolved, That while we respect the rights of the slavcholding as well as the free 
portions of this Union — while we will not willingly consent that wrong be done to any 
member of the glorious confederacy to which to which wc belong, we arc FIRMLY AND 

UNALTERABLY OPPOSED TO THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY OVER ANY PORTION OF AMERI- 
CAN SOIL NOW FREE." 

This, Colonel, was the Democracy known in New Hampshire at that day. It was 
then the Democracy of Franklin Pierce, who up to that time was true to what ho pro- 
fesssed. Read from his speech made at Concord, on the 5th of June, 1845 : 

" T have only to say now, what I have always said, that I REGARD SLAVERY AS ONE 
OF TIIK GREATEST MORAL AND SOCIAL EVILS — A CURSK UPON TUK WHOLE COUNTRY 
AND THIS I BELIKVK TO BE TUK SENTIMENT OF ALL PARTIES AT THE NoRTH." 



15 

And read this, from his speech made in the Constitutional Convention held at Concord, 
New Hampshire, (of which Convention he, Franklin Pierce, was President,) in the 
year 1851 : 

Said he, ^'I would take the ground of the non-extension of slavery — 
"that slavery should not become stronger." 

It was because of this sentiment, and other kindred ones, so manfully expressed, 
that the people were led to believe, if they elected Franklin Pierce, they would 
elect a man worthy of the place once filled by statesmen whose very names they had 
been educated to revere. I say it without hesitation, Colonel, though I now regret the 
act — I voted for that man. But I pledge you my word I will never again do the like, 
or vote for a candidate once an animated person, but who now openly announces the 
fact that he has become a part and parcel of an accursed thing. 

No, I will not so far forget my manhood as to either abandon my identity or 
my democracy. I will not turn my back upon all that is great and glorious in my 
country's history. I will not consent to admit as a fact that this government under 
which we live was formed to promote slavery and crush out every sentiment which per- 
tains to Freedom. I cannot be persuaded, Colonel, nor do I think you can succeed in 
persuading a majority of your constituents in " the Third ward, at the corner of Front 
and Catharine streets, and, also, in the Second ward, at Pascoe's, corner of Fifth and 
Carpenter streets," or elsewhere, that the men who vote for Thomas B. Florence, James 
Buchanan, and others who profess with them, would vote otherwise than against the 
interest of free labor and free laboring men. On the contrary, I think I can speak 
with perfect safety, when I say a large majority of your constituents, both at the 
''Navy Yard " and at " the United States Arsenal, upon Grey's Ferry Road," are about 
becoming thoroughly informed and will soon be as thoroughly resolved in the course 
they will pursue. 

They have lately read and studied, as I told you in the beginning of my letter, and 
they are also apprised of the fact, that the spirit of Democracy yet lives. Your con- 
stituents see around them thousands of toiling freemen, aroused to action by the in- 
tolerable wrongs which I have here but partially set forth. They see before them a MAN 
who has raised himself by the dignity of his own labor to the position of a candidate 
for the highest ofl&ce within the gift of any people. They have reviewed his past course, 
and, from that, they have an unbounded confidence that he is safe to be relied on in 
the future. They are satisfied with the declaration wherein he says : 

^^ If lam elected to the high office for which your partiality has nominated 
me, I will endeavor to administer the government according to the true spirit 
of the Constitution— as it was interpreted by the great men who framed and 
adopted it — and in such a way as to preserve both Liberty and the Union." 

Such a man. Colonel, the people will delight to honor. Rely upon it, the fiat has 
gone forth. From the shores of the Atlantic on the East, to the expanded Pacific on 
the West, the gladdening shouts are heard, reverberating over the mountains and valleys 
of the " Keystone State," the echo of which extends to far-off Kansas, giving assurance 
to the patriot captives there, that the time is fast approaching when free labor will 
be sustained, and imprisoned free men shall again be free. Depend upon it, 
the time will soon arrive when the sentiment expressed by Jefferson, which you have 



16 



made free to ciuotc, "equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever State or natior 
religious or political," will be effectively carried out. That time will be<rin in 
meJiat.ly after the 4th day of March, A. D. 1857, and continue during the Presldentij 
administration of John Charlks Frkmont. 

With all due respect, Coloilel, 

I am yours, &c. 

THOMAS G. ALLEN, 

Residing in Fifth Ward. 



